Taibo denounces 'illiterate gay sector' campaign against him

Paco Ignacio Taibo II, the director of Mexico's Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE), has accused a group of "illiterate gay sector collectives" of orchestrating a campaign against him. Taibo claims these groups are acting out of ignorance, stating that if they had read the FCE's records, they would know no homophobia complaints have been filed in the past seven years.

The controversy stems from a complaint by Víctor Santana, a former sub-manager at FCE's Revista Tierra Adentro. Santana accused a female FCE official of discriminatory and homophobic comments in a work chat and Taibo of omission and re-victimization. Taibo dismissed Santana's complaint as "dirty pool" and called the editor "a person with little human value."

While Taibo confirmed discriminatory comments were made by an official, he stated they were not directed at Santana. He asserted he acted immediately, removing the official from her position as head of television program coordination. However, government records indicated Santana remained employed until July 31.

Santana, in a June interview, alleged Taibo attempted to mediate a reconciliation between him and the official who made the homophobic remarks, which Santana viewed as re-victimization. The LGBT literary collective Novísimxs protested outside an FCE bookstore on July 3, stating their action was against persistent homophobia within the institution, not solely at Santana's behest.

Taibo reiterated his accusations against the collective in a separate radio interview and confirmed Santana's employment contract had been terminated. He also suggested Santana had "economic pretensions" for discussing the matter with the media.